Anosmia: Causes, Symptoms, and Natural Treatment Options

I had severe problem of sinus coupled with loss of smell. Doctors suggested this is due to polyps and i had them removed about 5 years. This surgery has given temporary relief but the loss of smell continued.

Some of my friend suggested use of castor oil. I put one drop of lukewarm castor oil in morning and one drop before I sleep.

This I am doing for last 10 days and to my surprise, I got rid of my sinus problem and smelling sense is gradually coming back!

I found chiropractic adjustments helped restore my sense of smell.

Anosmia Triggered by Sinus Infection

Re loss of smell for past three years.

If you google "Google Scholar" and type in "loss of smell" you'll find a number of articles that reference that such loss of smell can OFTEN (not always) be tracked to sinus infection. I just recovered (four weeks ago) from a sinus infection (and some in bronchial passages) that I fought off for a full month before clearing. I used my old stand by ... Colloidal Silver and I make it myself so I know the strength will work. This recent infection was a very bad one and I suspect it was a lipid coated variety.

Well, during the illness, I lost my sense of smell.

That loss went on for a period of about a week and only as I gained control over the infection did I find the sense of smell return. That was the first time that had ever happened to me that I recall. But now, full recovery with elimination of virus.

I use an ear syringe to squirt the Colloidal Silver into sinus passages (called an irrigation) and let drain down back of throat or exhaling mucus first and then a second irrigation into back of throat. I never miss irrigating the ears also as I've found over the years that the eustachian tubes which connect ears to sinus cavity can also hold viruses and is a source for secondary infections. So; irrigate both sinus cavities and ear canals also.

And if the infection (if there is one) is the cause of the loss of hearing, the hearing will begin to return in time unless permanent damage was done to the nerves.

You might ask if the loss of hearing was precipitated by an infection or by medication? You said it started three years ago. Some more information for us might help give the cause. The idea of infection as cause is just a guess, after all.

Colonics worked for me, not only restoring my sense of smell but colonics also gave my complexion a noticeable healthy glow!

Cranial adjustments on a regular basis helped me regain my sense of smell.

Loss of smell is a very common side effect of Heavy Metal or possibly some kind of Zenobiotic toxicity. You can purchase Hair Analysis kits from online vendors or labs to check for HM. Detox Foot Pads are quite effective at eliminating all manner of toxins. Lots of recent comments on Far Infrared Sauna therapy here on Earth Clinic. Ionic Trace Minerals would certainly help.

I knew someone years ago who had lost their sense of smell and got it back by eating horseradish daily - not too much but small amounts a couple times per day. I can't remember how long it took but thought I'd mention it!

Hello Everyone, I was anosmic for 20 years. A handful of times I got my sense of smell back temporarily when taking steroids or having a steroid injection. Once or twice in those years I got a temporary low percentage of smell back after I had been drinking lemon water for a few days. (I realize now I temporarily alkalized my system with the lemon) I tried hundreds of different remedies to no avail throughout the years and then suddenly 2 years ago I got back my smell and it has been perfect everyday since. Looking back I believe the reason I became anosmic is because of dehydration, an acidic system and the allergies that accompany those problems.

There are 3 things that I changed in my life over the course of a year that I believe was responsible for me getting my smell back.

The first is I practiced the watercure which is drinking one half of your body weight, in ounces, of water per day along with taking sea salt.

The second is I became vegetarian.

The third is I used a silver sinus nasal spray every day.

My theory is I was chronically dehydrated and my body was way too acidic. Those problems manifested themselves into chronic sinusitis and anosmia. When I started the watercure I experience an incredible detox and as I increased my fruits, vegetables and alkalizing foods my sinuses cleared. The sinus silver spray helped heal my chronically irritated sinuses and one morning I put on some coffee & I smelled it.

That was 2 years ago and I have been smelling perfectly since. I am so thankful to have this sense back and I hope all of you suffering from anosmia take a look at yourself and do whatever you can to keep your body hydrated and at the proper ph. Every medical doctor I ever went to said there was nothing you can do about smell loss. Well with determination, luck and prayer, I proved them wrong. I hope it can help some of you out there.

Loss of smell unless caused by any physical issues is related to Magnesium deficiency. RDA for Mg is 350 to 400 mg elemental Mg a day.. Takes months to rebuild Mg stores in the body, so you will need to be patient.. Google Magnesium and loss of smell. Avoid Mg Oxide. Best to use will be Mg glycinate 3 caps a day..

Loss of Smell

You should all try one month of raw food, that is everything must be raw giving more importance to raw vegetables this will liverate all the incrusted toxins and strange substances that could be from the air or chemicals that we usually eat with all the junk food and all the saturated greases and artificial colors etc.etc. Once I did it and wow! Your body really thanks you for these, the only thing is that you will really start smelling the terrible cadaveric smell of meat even in the best of beef restaurants and you will know what you have being eating erroneously all of your life.

I am not a vegetarian but please concider this because I have 35 or more years with holistic naturistic and orthomolecular medicine as my hobby.

Eat big raw smoothies in the morning plus a big veggie or frut salad in the afternoon and night ..give preference to adding cilantro to your smoothies because it desintoxicates the liver, do not forget garlic onion and radishes in your raw salads, repeat a big veggie smoothie any time you want avoid all comercial industrialized or cooked food for at least one or two months drink plain water, add sea salt to your salads lemons or lime, do not eat any absolutly any kind of oil, no even olive oil. You will desincrustate all the impurities of your smell cells and feel younger and with lots of smell.

Wish you all the best please do it do it with will and you won't regret it, see you tube for raw recepies they have many do not drink smoke or anything, give your body a break and be creative with your food there are many vegetables with wonderful flavors for you...

Best of luck to all of you.

Serrapeptase has worked for loss of smell. I took it for about 1 month now due to a traumatic brain injury, on a empty stomach as directed right before I slept. I would wake up with blood residue/scar tissue on my nose which helped clear up the olfatory system. I have regained about 70% of my smell now after my fall. (I fell off a motorcycle and landed on my back).

It takes years to grow your sense of smell back - it grows at a rate of 1mm per year. BUT, I used different smells to grow mine. I used Vicks Vapour Rub and held it at my chin and breathed deeply so I could smell it (then later my waist, then the floor...)

I have a similar problem relating to loss of smell. See the segment on nasal polyps.

I tried the tea tree oil recommendations on my sinus polyps and they are gone. To ensure the never come back, I mixed tea tree with alkalol in a old sinus spray bottle and use twice a day.

Last Friday; a sinus polyp fell out and I have been smelling every since.

The best remedy for lack of smell or anosmia is L-Carnosine. The condition is often due to excess heavy metals in the neural system, lack of vitamin B complex and excess toxins which causes loss of smell.

The remedy that I would likely to use is 500 mg of L-Carnosine usually twice or three times a day. Some cilantro or coriander taken once every two days, usually of a small amounts such as one- three tablepoonful, and B50 taken once every other day. Magnesium is synergistic, where magnesium citrate or magnesium gluconate maybe helpful.

Certain foods that should be avoided that kill the nerves includes aspartame, sugar, and avoiding paints, thinner and moldy environment. Sometimes the toxicity of chemical toxins may be neutralize includes 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar plus 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda in 1/2 glass of water twice a day.

To be correct, riboflavin is vitamin B2, vitamin B6 is pyridoxine. The zinc is not used. If fungus, moldy or allergy is indicated, the common remedy is 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda in 1/2 glass of water taken twice a day to reduce the allergy and fungus problem that induces anosmia or loss of smell.

Sugar may damage the nerves but not as dangerous as aspartame, sweet n low, or diet products. Lack of balance in dietary fats are often common cause too, so I would likely take fish oils, which are high in omega 3 once a day. Granulated lecithin also helps reduced some excess heavy metals as it reduces free metals due to their hydrophopic fat soluble properties, of which granulated lecithin is soluble. The dose I would use is one tablespoon a day, often on an empty stomach.

As to the magnesium it is synergistic with the vitamin B complex, especially B6. Excessive zinc can also cause anosmia (loss of smell) and hence chelation therapies such as cilantro, fish oil, and lecithin is helpful. While l-glutathione is not a chelation it does detoxify to help recovery of neural degenerative disorders and I might take these 500 mg twice or three times a day, usually 5 days out of a week.

Quite often in certain parts of India, high levels of arsenic (usually north part) and certain regions of India, is high in fluoride, which causes neurodegenerative disorder. Fluoride increases absorption of free metal toxicity, such as aluminum, and possibly, free metal zinc, etc. causing neural damages. The demyelination of aspartame, monosodium glutamate as also causes in which avoiding these is most helpful. The lecithin can help myelination which protects neural damages and some neural transmitter supplements of vitamin B complex, but also certain amino acids that increases serotonin such as L-tryptophan maybe helpful. To further protect more damages, the use of dechlorinator in drinking water is best in reducing the inflammation of the nerves and tissues which deaden the sense of smell. Woman especially the sense of smell swings greatly depending on their menstration period, which are often linked to hormonal changes. Reduction in toxic effect of fluoride as well as more normal hormonal levels, is the use of borons supplements. The boron I prefer is borax, such as 1/8 teaspoon of borax dissolved in one liter of drinking water, perhaps once every two or three days, assuming I don't know the level of fluoride in drinking water.

The constant source of free heavy metals is usually from defected water faucet and water filtering devices. A change of old water faucets, old metal pipe fittings, old water filters, is especially helpful as the prime source of heavy metals come from that. Interestingly, I have found out heavy metals also come from vegetables and flour due to fertilizers high in heavy metals. but people without a way to check heavy metals are pretty much blind by the level of toxicity from metals going on which leads to Alzheimer, lupus, Parkinson's disease and even Multiple Sclerosis. Sometimes a mild condition starts with concentration problems, anosmia, for example. Wheat products and excess oils used in cooking products are also a problem because they are acid forming and oils used in cooking products sop up heavy metals during cooking when one uses metal frying pans, and other metalic cooking utensils. Even the excessive use of cellular phones can cook the brains as it is microwave radiation, destroying nerve cells. For example when I do use cellular phones, I often used it on a handsfree mode.

This is the updated remedy.

Posted by Melanie (Surrey, B. C. Canada) on 01/17/2006: "Ted, I have not been able to smell anything for many years and wondering if you have some magical natural cure for this?"

Your conditions of not being able to smell anything is called Anosmia. Anosmia is a condition where you cannot detect smells. I believe this is caused by a zinc deficiency. For the body to best respond to zinc, I suggest you take zinc acetate (without the calcium carbonate and tricalcium phosphate fillers), vitamin b6 and magnesium. These three seems to work in synergy.